1 John 4:19 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

¹⁹ We love [God and others] because God has first loved us.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹⁹ We love him, because he first loved us.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁹ We love Him, because He first loved us.

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁹ We love, because he first loved us.

Common English Bible

¹⁹ We love because God first loved us.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁹ Therefore, let us love God, for God first loved us.

1 John 4:19 Cross References

1 John 4:10

Here is [the essence of] love: [It is] not that we loved God [first], but that He loved us [See Rom. 5:6-8] and sent His Son to be a “covering over” [see 2:2] of our sins.

John 15:16

I command you to do these things so that you will [demonstrate your] love for one another. [Note: Or this may mean that His command was to love one another, as in verse 12].

John 3:16

For God loved the world [of sinners] so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that every person who believes in Him would not [have to] be destroyed, but have never ending life.

Luke 7:47

For this reason, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. [Note: This suggests that her forgiveness was the result of her loving, but the point Jesus makes better fits the idea that her forgiveness produced love]. But the person who is forgiven of little [i.e., of only a few sins], loves [only] a little bit.”

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,

1 John 4:20

If a person says, “I love God,” yet [in reality] hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot [possibly] love God, whom he has never seen.